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3232The 3 biggest threats for knowledge growth (you won’t like number 3)http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/3-biggest-threats-for-knowledge-growth/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/3-biggest-threats-for-knowledge-growth/#respondTue, 09 Feb 2016 19:36:16 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/the-3-biggest-threats-for-knowledge-growth-you-wont-like-number-3/Can you ever have too much knowledge? Or can what you do know get in the way of what you do not yet know? Market information, about preferences of clients and about competitors is necessary for decision making and successful management of a company. In this article we will investigate the three greatest threats to the […]

]]>Can you ever have too much knowledge? Or can what you do know get in the way of what you do not yet know?

Market information, about preferences of clients and about competitors is necessary for decision making and successful management of a company.

In this article we will investigate the three greatest threats to the growth of knowledge and we will close with three factors of success as a remedy.

1. Personalization of search results (computers)

In 2011 Eli Pariser wrote his book entitled ‘The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You’. You can follow his train of thoughts in this TED Talk where he shows how Google presents different results, depending on who is asking. It is possible that you are being shown different results then I am.

Facebook also adjusts the publications in your Timeline based on your preferences that are analyzed constantly.

Not only Google and Facebook practice this kind of personalization, the internet shows us what it thinks we want to see. You will not even see what has been omitted.

‘Variety is the Spice of Life’ has become an obsolete saying because today you are served more of the same. Because apparently you liked it at some time.

2. Online communities and networks (friends)

Today we gather our news from social networks on line. Not only the news you would read in the newspapers but also personal news from friends and relatives. “We’ve got a new dog”. “Yes, I already saw it on Facebook, beautiful doggy.”

Innocent and harmless, right?

Not quite if you are aware of the fact that you mostly communicate with people who have the same way of thinking you do. Birds of a feather flock together, they say. You are actually stuck in a filter bubble; a nice word for this is ‘online community’.

You may ask yourself: “What danger can there be in such a cosy online community? I will tell you what the danger here is. However intelligent your friends are… they do in a way limit your view of the world.

On the 19th of January 2016 the PNAS (Proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences, vol. 113, no. 3) published an article written by Del Vicario et al, with the ominous title “The spreading of misinformation online”.

They researched how different types of information are spread. That is an interesting research topic because digital misinformation has been mentioned as one of the greatest threats to our society by the World Economic Forum.

“The global risk of massive digital misinformation sits at the centre of a constellation of technological and geopolitical risks ranging from terrorism to cyber attacks and the failure of global governance.” – Bron: World Economic Forum

You can find the research on the internet. Briefly it is about the fact that people gather around a topic based on what they already believe. This will result in homogeneous and polarized groups.

Del Vicario compared groups of scientists with groups around a complot theory. The first group is characterized by being verifiable and falsifiable; the second group is characterized by being a simplification of cause and effect and the acceptance of a certain degree of uncertainty.

The input by members of such a group is filtered because information that agrees with the convictions of the group is shared over and over. Repetition strengthens the convictions and there is no correction. This will be polarizing and reinforcing.

Community members reside in an echo chamber.

The influence of echo-chambers on the flow of information was researched by Lorien Jasny et al. The papers were published the 1st of October 2015 in Nature Climate Change. In this research the groups differed in regards to their points of view concerning the climate crisis and its causes.

“Our research underscores how important it is for people on both sides of the climate debate to be careful about where they get their information. If their sources are limited to those that repeat and amplify a single perspective, they can’t be certain about the reliability or objectivity of their information.” – Bron: Nature Climate Change

The picture below, by Jasny, simplifies what is happening inside an echo-chamber like that: A shares information with B and with C. Next B forwards the same information to C.

Then C concludes; “I have seen this information twice now, sent to me by different people that I know, like and trust. So… I assume it’s true!?”. This is something to take into account.

But that’s not all. With personalized search results and on line communications that cause you to hear more of the same, there is another weak link. And that brings us to number 3.

3. Selective observation and interpretation (us)

If you read this you are (only) human and you too encounter distortion of observations, interpretations, memory and conclusion. One person more then another – like more then 50% of drivers think they are better drivers than the average – therefore you too, and me.

Backfire effect: You encounter evidence of the opposite of what you believe and you react by simply enforcing your convictions. This is why it’s better not to go against people who believe vaccinations lead to autism.

Confirmation bias: When you have an idea about how reality is composed you will not easily change your mind. Complot theorists will assume that any attempt to make them change their mind is part of a complot.

Subjective validation: You assume something is true because it resonates with something that is important to you personally (Belief in horoscopes). Or you create a connection between two matters that in fact have no relation at all, because you really want there to be a connection (I was just thinking about you when you called).

In the 15th century Thomas Cardinal Wolsey said: Be very, very careful what you put into that head, because you will never, ever get it out. Nothing has changed since then.

How to escape being human and the selective processing of information that comes with that?

3 Succes factors for making new discoveries

To go on a voyage of discovery and to observe as well as possible it is important to detach yourself as much as possible of your own hypotheses and convictions concerning the subject that you want to investigate.

Start with being conscious of what you believe in, by for example saying it out loud or by writing it down (succes factor 1). About what are you sure? How much do you want it to be really true? What do you know you are leaving out? And about what do you have doubts?

Those are the areas that you could map out, but there are two more missing areas: The matters of which you don’t know that you don’t know them. And the matters that you think you are sure about but in reality don’t quite add up.

The second succes factor is to be open to new information with a mind that is not weighed down. A well known Zen story illustrates the importance of an empty mind, or Sho Shin in Japanese.

“Nan-in, a Japanese grand master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

The first two succes factors are summarized beautifully in the motto of Bruno Ernst, founder of the first Dutch public astronomical observatory in Oudenbosch: “Nescius omnium curiosus sum”. This translates as: “I know nothing but am curious about everything”. It’s a beautiful version of the paradox by Socrates who said, freely translated: “I know that I know nothing”.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/3-biggest-threats-for-knowledge-growth/feed/0Do you need to monitor all languages?http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/do-you-need-to-monitor-all-languages/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/do-you-need-to-monitor-all-languages/#respondThu, 23 Jul 2015 13:49:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/do-you-need-to-monitor-all-languages/To monitor developments in your industry you may want to look outside your own country and outside your own language. Especially if you want to see changes coming. But how many languages should you monitor? “More is better”, people often think but being complete comes at a cost that probably isn’t justified by the extra […]

]]>To monitor developments in your industry you may want to look outside your own country and outside your own language. Especially if you want to see changes coming.

But how many languages should you monitor?

“More is better”, people often think but being complete comes at a cost that probably isn’t justified by the extra value. Our planet counts 7102 different languages. To monitor all languages would be very expensive and time-consuming. In business, to make better decisions, you don’t need to be that complete. You just need to be smart and balance your investment and time with the results you get.

These 23 languages will get you a long way

“There are at least 7,102 known languages alive in the world today. […] 23 languages make up the native tongue of 4.1 billion people. We represent each language within black borders and then provide the numbers of native speakers (in millions) by country. The colour of these countries shows how languages have taken root in many different regions.” Source: Alberto Lucas López

This infograph is based on data from Ethnologue, a comprehensive reference work cataloging all of the world’s known living languages since 1951. You can view this infographic at full size at ZME Science.

Currently 33 languages are available in BuzzTalk

Currently we monitor 33 languages with BuzzTalk. The ones that are used the most are immediately visible. For other languages such as Arabic, Chinese or Hindi you can just click on the ‘More languages’ button and add them to your search.

What’s special in BuzzTalk is that you create searches without having to speak the language yourself. Also, the resulting publications are translated to English enabling you to monitor developments in foreign languages.

What languages do you use most when you monitor developments in your market? You can leave your answer in the comments section below.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/do-you-need-to-monitor-all-languages/feed/0From ‘just’ (social) media monitoring to gaining actionable insightshttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/social-media-insights/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/social-media-insights/#respondMon, 16 Feb 2015 16:31:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/from-just-social-media-monitoring-to-gaining-actionable-insights/Remember internet 1.0 when only companies and organizations could publish? Internet 2.0 changed that enabling everyone to not only interact with content, making it more relevant and lively, but also become a publisher themselves. And now we’re in internet 3.0 where we get the chance to analyze all of the content published to gain insight […]

]]>Remember internet 1.0 when only companies and organizations could publish? Internet 2.0 changed that enabling everyone to not only interact with content, making it more relevant and lively, but also become a publisher themselves. And now we’re in internet 3.0 where we get the chance to analyze all of the content published to gain insight and empower decision making.

This article shows you that the value of media and social media is largely untapped. Current media monitoring tools give you lists only show that something happened. Next generation monitoring tools move away from the real time webcare perspective. These are not tools for the PR department, but show influencers and decision making what has happened.

The publishing profession has been democratized

The way we are dealing with information has changed over the years. Not by choice, but because we have to. There is already so much information out there and every day new articles, video’s, podcasts and infographics are added to the tsunami of knowledge.

Not only are consumers publishing online – via various social media channels that require no budget and no technical skills – also companies are adopting the strategy what is known as ‘content marketing’ to get their message heard.

On top of that, Google is looking at social signals, fresh updates and links to your page to determine it’s rankings in the search result pages (well, these and at least 197 other factors). How are you going to get found organically if all you do is advertise?

And so it happened that every consumer and every company turned into a publisher, adding content to an already crowded blogosphere.

Social media as news distributor and amplifier tools

The word ‘social’ in social media refers to people connecting, relating and having conversations. However as 80% of all Facebook status updates and Twitter messages contain a link to an external website – usually an article but this can also be a video or graphic – these social media channels actually function as amplifiers of the news already out there.

Social media are important channels for distribution of the content generated by companies. Facebook and Twitter noticed this too and now use it to monetize their platforms. When you want your message (with a link to your website) to be seen by a lot of people, you now have to pay for it. Of course it’s not all black and white. It never is. Despite that organic reach of Facebook posts plummeted, your messages are shown to more people when these are relevant and engaging. When more people interact with your message, Facebook will show your post to more people.

What exactly are we monitoring when we monitor social media?

Social media inherently contain a lot of chatter, but within that chatter there’s also value. People express their opinion about pieces of content that are published elsewhere (there is just nog enough room, so people have to link to it). The actual and original publication being discussed lives on a news site, specialized blog site or scientific journal for instance. Social media updates are in essence ‘content pointers’ with a little bit of context added to them. So what does this mean for social media monitoring and value extraction?

If you really want to understand what is happening in your world you now know social media monitoring cannot be enough, by definition. You have to take the original publications into account and use Facebook and Twitter to find the sentiment or emotions that are expressed in the pointer-type status updates.

There is another dimension you can take into account to assess the value of the news without even looking at social media. A news update that is published by one news site often gets redistributed on other news sites when it’s of particular interest. One could argue that the number of republications correlates with the news value of the article. Therefor, to measure the impact of news you don’t need social media.

Expand your view from social media monitoring to media monitoring

We now know that in order to obtain a valid and complete view of what’s happening, including opinions and context, we need to gather complete articles from validated sources and categorize these extensively so they can be analyzed.

Such categories can range from company names (How often is my company mentioned in the media and in what way?), to competitor names (What are which media saying about my competitors?), to subjects that span a complete industry (What is happening in the dairy industry?) and much more.

But – in contrast to a 140 character Tweet – this is a lot of material to read. It’s impossible to grasp the essence of it all in a reasonably time frame. After all, we are all busy and need answers as quick as possible.

This is where monitoring tools come in handy. Most monitoring tools will tell you that something happened. They’ll show you when something happened and count the number of publications. These are in essence counters and list generators. Wherever you notice a spike in time, you’ll extract the publications from the list and start reading to find out what happened. Instead of a tweet as a pointer, you know have a monitoring tool that also functions as a pointer.

This solution is perfectly fine when you don’t have much data to process. Most companies don’t generate 50,000 publications in 12 weeks. However, when your research question isn’t about a local business but about a multinational such as IBM, Apple, Unilever or ING, you are in trouble. Also, list generating monitoring tools won’t help you beyond the pointing phase when you want to research a whole industry, such as the dairy industry, world-wide in various languages.

This is not to say (social) media monitoring tools are not valuable, because they are. For instance, you can use them to monitor tweets in real time for customer engagement and web care. When an unhappy client complains on Twitter, you want to respond fast and solve the problem.

Going from knowing THAT something happened to seeing WHAT did happen

When you need to perform research and analysis to support your business decisions, you don’t need the real time solution that web care like monitoring tools provide. There is a much more urgent factor than real-time tweets that you need.

For you it’s not enough to simply know THAT something happened. You want to know WHAT happened and without having to read all those publications.

Let’s for example take a look at Apple. By the way: a great media analysis tool will know the difference between an apple (as a fruit) and Apple (as a company). Questions you could ask such a media analysis tool are for instance: What happened lately with Apple? Were there any mergers and acquisitions? How is Apple related to sustainable business? Which persons are important when you research Apple? Which companies are mentioned whenever Apple is mentioned? Which industries are dominated by Apple? And why? Did they do any product launches and in which countries?

These are strategic questions every management team would want to know. They go beyond web care and customer engagement that is typically handled by the support- and communications department. Imagine gaining a head start when you can answer questions like these without reading hundreds of articles. Social media monitoring tools only show THAT something happened. They don’t tell us WHAT did happen.

Showing THAT something has happened:

Showing WHAT has happened:

As a decision maker you need systems that can provide you with answers to questions that matter. You know now why you’re having a hard time getting those answers out of social media monitoring tools. You need a media analysis tool that enables you to drill down into strategic matters such as innovations, marketing strategies, product launches, etc.

Do these advanced media analysis tools exist?

If you have come this far in the article chances are you’re in need of such a system. What you want is a computer that is capable of reading human language, preferably in multiple languages, and creating a summary or graphic that tells you the essence.

In order to do so the computer must recognize topics such as company names, industries, industry terms, person names, and much much more. Teaching a computer to read human language is not easy. Linguists and experts in artificial intelligence are working together world wide to enable this. One of these initiatives is Reuter’s OpenCalais and Buzztalk‘s OpenDover. Both are very powerful semantic tagging engines and can analyze – and tag – hundreds of written publications per second.

Key take-away

Media monitoring has evolved from simply listing publications in time and showing that something happened, to showing what has happened. Simple social media monitoring tools target web care teams and PR departments (as they look at individual tweets, read the whole tweet and want to respond fast on a tweet by tweet basis).

Next generation media analysis tools target management teams, business analysts and market researches and provide them with powerful tools for decision making. They are not just looking for information, but want to extract insights from the wealth of information out there.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/social-media-insights/feed/0Look out for these lies with data visualizationhttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/look-out-for-these-lies-with-data-visualization/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/look-out-for-these-lies-with-data-visualization/#respondWed, 21 Jan 2015 07:00:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/look-out-for-these-lies-with-data-visualization/While most people in the U.S. and Europe are familiarized with graphs and charts during their secondary education, it is the rare person who continues to use this skill throughout the rest of their working life. In later life, the vast majority of these people become unaccustomed to the information being conveyed in these charts […]

]]>While most people in the U.S. and Europe are familiarized with graphs and charts during their secondary education, it is the rare person who continues to use this skill throughout the rest of their working life. In later life, the vast majority of these people become unaccustomed to the information being conveyed in these charts and merely accept them on faith.

Unscrupulous media outlets, propagandists, activist groups and others rely on this fact and create false impressions with them. More sophisticated users understand that this occurs but are still not competent to identify the fallacies.

Here are a few of the most common deceptions to watch out for:

Truncated Y-Axis

One of the more common manipulations, the truncated Y-axis is always indicated on a reputable graph with a “squiggly” line near the bottom. This seemingly insignificant item indicates that the graph is not to scale and should be judged as such. Less than competently produced graphs will set the scale on the Y-axis to what ever values tells their side of the story. Pay attention to the actual values and you should have no trouble discerning any disparities between the graph and the numbers.

Changing Axes

Any graph can be manipulated by simply changing the ratio of the X and Y axes. In particular, spreading the Y-axis will yield a less steep slope making the info appear less dire while the opposite – that is, shrinking the length of the Y-axis can dramatically increase the slope of the line. This manipulation is usually seen when graphs of similar information are being compared – for instance, crime statistics from one year to the next or from one city to another.

Cumulative Vs. Iterated Time Periods

Used mostly by those who have only mediocre news to tell, cumulative graphs are the simplest form of deceptive charts as they always go “up and to-the-right” which typically means that things are getting better. Unfortunately, the true data is not always so sanguine.

For example, a company with flat or falling sales on a quarter-to-quarter basis would graph cumulative sales over the entire time period to lull their investors and possibly the board of directors into thinking that things are going well.

Non-Conventional Graphs

Even more deceptive are the graphs that turn data visualization conventions – figuratively and literally – on their heads. While some graphic designers will add a third dimension for aesthetic purposes, others use it to simply cloud the reader’s perception.

More egregious still is the inversion of a graph so that the reader gets a false impression of a positive trend even though the actual data indicates a negative one.

Omitting Data

Data visualization is most often used to identify and clarify trends as they appear in a data set. Some creators “cherry-pick” their data points – leaving out the ones that do not bolster their position or their conclusion – thus creating a false trend that is not borne out by the entire set of data. An simple example is using growth data from up years while ignoring any down ones. While the overall trend will be the same, the graph with the expurgated chart will show less volatility.

Logarithmic Scales

Charts that include a logarithmic scale are used when the range of values is extremely large. For instance, this type of graph would be useful if comparing the sales volume of lower end oil producers as compared to Royal Dutch Shell. The problem occurs when the scale is used to occlude valuable data by mashing it together in a meaningless pile.

A Few Key Questions to Ask

As you can see, there are a multitude of ways to self-servingly manipulate data visualizations. This fact does not mean that all hope is lost for those unfamiliar with graphs but you must exercise a little caution when first viewing a chart. Here are a few questions to ask so that you are not overwhelmed by even the most complicated graph.

For example, with bar charts, examine the Y-axis. Does it start at zero and are the units in every chart similar in proportion? Find that squiggly line and understand its relevance. On pie charts, ask yourself if the numbers add up to 100%. If not, is there some inconvenient data missing or have some been crowded together to diminish their importance.

On graphs with cumulative statistics, ask why the iterated ones were not used of they indicated an upward trend. This is an especially awkward question to respond to if the data is not as good as expected. If given the runaround, just ask for the “raw” data and do the math yourself. In most cases, it’s only simple addition and subtraction.

Finally, beware of “pretty” charts with lots on non-essential elements. These charts are intentionally designed to draw your attention away from the true facts. In this hectic business climate, who has time for these shenanigans if not someone with something to hide?

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/look-out-for-these-lies-with-data-visualization/feed/0Why organizations need content curatorshttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-organizations-need-content-curators/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-organizations-need-content-curators/#respondThu, 08 Jan 2015 14:04:24 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/why-organizations-need-content-curators/As they say, content is still king on the online platform. Google needs fresh and informative content on your website in order for it to rank higher. That is why every business owner is always looking to make sure they get the most out of the content they post on their sites and blogs. If […]

]]>As they say, content is still king on the online platform. Google needs fresh and informative content on your website in order for it to rank higher. That is why every business owner is always looking to make sure they get the most out of the content they post on their sites and blogs. If you are in business and you don’t have enough time to harness useful content related to your online business, it might be a good idea to find a good content curator who can help you out.

In this article, we shall delve into the essence of content curation in any type of a business today. Again, we shall figure out some of the reasons why as a business owner you need to hire a professional content curator who can help you when you are in need of fresh and relevant content from the web and a range of other research resources. Walk with me through this article so that you can learn a lot about content curation in the organization setting and why it’s very important.

So, what is content curation?

Content curation simply refers to the process of sorting through a large amount of content on the internet and then presenting it in an organized and meaningful manner around a certain theme. The work mainly involves sorting, sifting, arranging and publishing information in order to make sure that the end product is useful to the audience.

The role of a content curator is to pick the best content which is important and relevant and then share it with the community. Once the curator has identified a theme, they are tasked to provide the context, detail and present information in the most effective manner. Before the information is displayed online or for the public, it has to go through a serious curation process for it to be deemed fit or suitable.

What is content curation all about? Is it necessary in business?

Unlike common perceptions, content curation is not all about the collection of links and being an information database. It’s more about putting the relevant information into a context that is relevant to the organization. This comes with proper annotation and presentation. Therefore, a content curator has to provide customized and well-vetted selections of some of the best and most relevant information resources that they come across.

When a business appoints a content curator, it will be able to help its audience. This is because the curator will be able to select the right industry trends and news, republish abstracts and comment on any issues that the audience might have. A curator is someone with the right level of experience in the field and therefore has got the capacity to find enough relevant details to share.

Why content curation is valuable in business today

Businesses and people are now sharing content all over the internet. Facebook and Twitter stand out as the most preferred social networking sites nowadays. There is a lot of content that is being shared through these social sites. As such, we are simply living in an era of content abundance. A content curator can offer high value to any organization or individual who might be looking for quality content online. This is because finding relevant and useful information requires more attention, time and focus. BuzzTalk can be of great help in discovering the right sources and publications to share. Basically, curation helps to provide value from the inside out.

Conclusion

If you own a business and you need to be offering your customers and audience relevant and useful information at all times, hiring a content curator might be a good option for you. This is an expert who will dig into the web, find information and convert that information to suit your business theme and context. When you post the information on your site pages and blogs, you’ll not only be able to educate but also convert some of your audience into customers.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-organizations-need-content-curators/feed/0Gain competitive advantage via your own digital magazinehttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/gain-competitive-advantage-via-your-own-digital-magazine/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/gain-competitive-advantage-via-your-own-digital-magazine/#respondWed, 10 Dec 2014 11:51:11 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/gain-competitive-advantage-via-your-own-digital-magazine/With corporations often having offices in different countries, it is difficult to keep everyone updated on new industry trends as they are happening. Major changes can happen on a daily basis, changes that can make or break your position in the industry, it is essential that all employees are updated regularly on these industry changes. Time […]

]]>With corporations often having offices in different countries, it is difficult to keep everyone updated on new industry trends as they are happening. Major changes can happen on a daily basis, changes that can make or break your position in the industry, it is essential that all employees are updated regularly on these industry changes. Time zones differ, one country’s office may get advance knowledge of an upcoming trend, while in another office a continent away, someone may get wind of a change that will influence the whole industry. Keeping everyone informed of every update becomes a challenge.

Imagine these two conversations

One hundred years ago:

James: “Hey, Ed, did you hear Charley and Ralph are merging their businesses into one major hardware store?

Ed: “Yes, I did. They have been talking about it for ages; it’s about time they acted on it.”

Today:

James: “Ed, I just heard that XY Corporation and ZM Industries were talking a merger.”

Ed: “You are just hearing that? They discussed it months ago and a deal fell through.”

James: “Where was I? Sometimes I feel I never know what’s going on in this industry.”

What do you need to know?

Knowing what is going on with others in your industry is essential in order to make the correct decisions, know what direction the market is heading and being able to stay one step ahead of competitors. Lack of communication of this knowledge is happening on a company-wide basis in most corporations because there is rarely a uniform way for this information to be gathered and then passed along. It does no good for Joe, the maintenance man, to overhear a vital piece of information about an upcoming competitor and pass it onto Greta, the secretary, if it goes no further.

“We have regular staff meetings and a suggestion box.” Those are fine for small businesses where everyone gets a chance to talk on a daily, or at least weekly, basis, but for businesses with hundreds of employees, this isn’t enough. In addition, emails can get lost, memos get lost or tossed unread and people inevitably get forgotten. When you are talking hundreds of employees across multiple national borders, it gets even worse.

Adding to this, employees who do pass on vital information and never hear of it again or feel it isn’t taken seriously, will hesitate before passing on more information. They feel unheard and lost among the masses. Eventually, the competition starts pulling ahead and everyone starts wondering why.

Centralize the information in a digital magazine

There is a simple solution to this lack of consistent, company-wide communication – a digital magazine.

Advantages of keeping all employees on-the-same-page

Having a system in place that gathers all the information possible both within the company and within the competition is a start. Next, being able to collate that information and have it directed to the various departments impacted gets it closer to having a benefit. Finally, taking all the information and gathering it into a timely, even daily, digital magazine that can be read by each and every employee, regardless of department or location, keeps everyone knowledgeable about all that is going on within the corporation. A digital magazine also avoids cluttering up inboxes with unstructured industry news.

People are able to adjust their work to fit with any changes, brainstorm ideas that keep you ahead of the competition, basically feel like a vital part of all that is going on around him or her. Knowing that information will be shared and will be considered and possibly acted upon will make employees more willing to share any information they come across outside of work.

A digital magazine that covers industry-wide developments will begin to make employees feel better connected to each other. When this connection happens, there is more communication and more cooperation and the competition stays with your competitors, not between individual employees. In the end, you see the competition a distance from you; but this time they are behind you, not ahead. All this as a result of a digital magazine.

You can choose to have a public digital magazine for customers and a private digital magazine that can only be viewed by your employees.

Would you like to talk about the possibilities in your industry? Contact us and we’ll set up a digital meeting.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/gain-competitive-advantage-via-your-own-digital-magazine/feed/0How industry knowledge improves your sales resultshttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/how-industry-knowledge-improves-your-sales-results/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/how-industry-knowledge-improves-your-sales-results/#respondTue, 11 Nov 2014 11:40:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/how-industry-knowledge-improves-your-sales-results/Industry knowledge and sales results usually go hand in hand. Often, simply asking a well thought question will demonstrate your industry knowledge at a higher level than generalized statements that aren’t specific to the company you’re pitching. By asking the right questions you can demonstrate your knowledge of the industry while finding out your potential […]

]]>Industry knowledge and sales results usually go hand in hand. Often, simply asking a well thought question will demonstrate your industry knowledge at a higher level than generalized statements that aren’t specific to the company you’re pitching.

By asking the right questions you can demonstrate your knowledge of the industry while finding out your potential customers’ particular needs. You can also build rapport by engaging in a meaningful conversation to determine what problems you can solve. Rather than going on the assumption the client understands their need for your service, asking questions gives you the opportunity to realize how you can convince your client of their need. By asking the right questions you’ll show that you understand the issues inherent to the field while improving both your industry knowledge and end sales results.

The New Sales Style

The days of the hard sales pitch to push your product are over. Information and communication allowed by the internet provide people with more information about their options and they are likely already familiar with your offerings. The goal is to stress why your service stands out and how it can benefit your potential client.

Successful salespeople need the additional edge of knowing the industry they are pitching to, the person they are dealing with and how their product or service can benefit the individual company to whom it is proposed. This requires knowledge of not only your own company but your potential customer’s company.

The problem many sales representatives see is that they consider sales a science in which the perfect pitch will generate the most sales. This isn’t the case. Making sales is an art form that relies on an exchange of information with the customer. You need to generate a familiar likability while demonstrating you know the industry well enough to be helpful with your advice.

Traditional sales pitches relied on an energetic and outgoing personality to demonstrate enthusiasm for the product. These days, a quieter person with a depth of knowledge can enjoy equal success. Once the potential client realizes you understand not only the industry but have a real interest of their company’s role within the industry you successfully pitch your service and make the sale.

The Four Points of Knowledge

Modern day salespeople realize it takes more than just strategy and training to succeed in the field. It requires the diamond of knowledge: four key aspects of the potential client’s business that is integral to delivering an efficient sales pitch.

Knowledge of the customer includes an understanding of their business and daily aspects of their job. This is how you determine what aspects of your service to promote as being able to solve your client’s problems.

Knowledge of the industry involves knowing what the competition offers and the market in general, and the role of your client’s company in the overall scheme.

Knowledge of the product is more than just knowing what your client offers but the various applications it has and how it is commonly used and how it can potential serve your customer’s clients.

Knowledge of your client’s company means you understand their message, strategy and why their product is of value.

Information powers the know-like-trust factor

To sound knowledgeable when approaching a potential client with your sales pitch you need to have the right information at your fingertips. Knowing the facts and sentiments about specific industries and companies allows you to tailor your pitch and prepare relevant questions.

This is where BuzzTalk helps you and your sales team. It’s a content discovery and analysis application that shows you how a company is viewed by the media and the public. It does so by following publications world-wide and compiling that information into a readable summary that can be analyzed further if you want. Amongst other things, BuzzTalk provides information about general business trends within the industry as well as details concerning specific events such as mergers, buy outs, and profit loss or gain by companies.

Knowing the facts and sentiments about specific industries and companies allows you to better tailor your sales pitch and prepare relevant questions. This way BuzzTalk is an important aid in providing sales representatives with current and relevant industry knowledge to aid sales results.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/how-industry-knowledge-improves-your-sales-results/feed/0Why we should measure customer happiness with social media listeninghttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-we-should-measure-customer-happiness-with-social-media-listening/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-we-should-measure-customer-happiness-with-social-media-listening/#respondTue, 14 Oct 2014 10:33:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/why-we-should-measure-customer-happiness-with-social-media-listening/In today’s competitive marketplace, measuring customer satisfaction is a key factor in setting yourself apart from the competition. Evaluating customer satisfaction by monitoring social media allows you to improve your product or service and public image. It also allows you to provide exceptional customer service which is important in building customer loyalty. Read on to find […]

]]>In today’s competitive marketplace, measuring customer satisfaction is a key factor in setting yourself apart from the competition. Evaluating customer satisfaction by monitoring social media allows you to improve your product or service and public image. It also allows you to provide exceptional customer service which is important in building customer loyalty.

Read on to find out more about how measuring customer satisfaction through social media listening can help you improve your business.

Make improvements

Social media listening is a great way to predict future sales because you can compare trends against your target market’s likes and dislikes.Consumer opinions can quickly change depending on many things like current events, competing products, and blitz marketing campaigns. If you do not monitor social media trends and customer sentiments, you are ignoring a chance get the inside scoop on what your target market cares about.

You can also use social media listening to direct improvements and new product development. By monitoring current trends and customer sentiment, you can direct the future of your product and company in a way that appeals to the masses.

Differentiate from the competition

Social media is an excellent place to find out what bothers your customers about your company. Do they hate your return policy? Maybe they don’t understand your stance on environmental concerns. Social media provides you access to customer’s thoughts and feelings that they may not have shared with you otherwise. By listening to what people are saying about your company and your products, you can make the necessary changes to keep your customers happy.

Your customers can either make or break your social image. Making changes that help your customers shows them that you care and that builds loyalty. Loyal customers help generate a positive buzz for your company within social media. When your customers share their experiences and positive attitude regarding your company, they are providing you free advertising.

Reduce advertising costs

By focusing your advertising dollars where they are needed most, you can get the most bang for your buck. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on advertising if your focus is off. Customer satisfaction gathered through social media listening shows you what your market cares about right now so you can better plan your marketing campaigns.

For example, when social media shows a trend toward environmental issues, you may choose a green marketing campaign to show your customers that you too care about the environment. When it seems like all anyone can talk about on social media is how bad the economy is, it may be smart to focus your efforts on showing your target market the economic value of your product or maybe its versatility. Social media allows you to focus right in on what matters to your customers so you don’t waste your advertising budget on something that isn’t going to bring you very much return.

Measure what matters

When deciding what information you may need regarding customer happiness, you will need to first consider your business. What is important to one type of company may not matter much to another. However, there are several topics that are important to consumers across the board.

When measuring your customer’s satisfaction, be sure to always include:

Value

Price

Quality of product or service

Speed of service

Customer service

Overall satisfaction

Social media is an excellent source of customer happiness, but also of customer dissatisfaction. By carefully monitoring social media, you can determine the most effective and cost efficient way to market to your target market. It also allows you to retain more current customers because you can react based on trending dissatisfactions. This shows your customers that they matter to your company and builds strong brand loyalty.

Don’t pass up a chance to get the inside scoop on what your customers are thinking and feeling about your product.Use social media to measure customer satisfaction.

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/why-we-should-measure-customer-happiness-with-social-media-listening/feed/0Driverless cars: questions, concerns and sentiment analysishttp://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/driverless-cars-questions-concerns-and-sentiment-analysis/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/driverless-cars-questions-concerns-and-sentiment-analysis/#respondMon, 07 Jul 2014 10:08:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/driverless-cars-questions-concerns-and-sentiment-analysis/People are remembered for the predictions that are spot-on, while the ubiquitous predictions that are completely off are usually forgotten. Steven Lewitt and Stephen Dubnet, the writers of Freakonomics, argue in their latest book How to think like a freak that it’s probably best to make a lot of predictions. The risk of making a […]

People are remembered for the predictions that are spot-on, while the ubiquitous predictions that are completely off are usually forgotten. Steven Lewitt and Stephen Dubnet, the writers of Freakonomics, argue in their latest book How to think like a freak that it’s probably best to make a lot of predictions. The risk of making a mistake is low, as almost no one has a strong incentive to keep track of everyone else’s bad prediction, while the rewards of being right are huge.Science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov predicted exactly 50 years ago that in 2014 self-driving “roboticized” vehicles would be up-and-coming. And though some predictions were wrong, in nature or time, his views about autonomous cars was spot-on.Driver-free cars are indeed on the rise but are we ready for them? The potential benefits seem obvious, but the same is true for the down sides.

Discovering the good, the bad and the ugly of self-driving cars

We have set-up a Buzz Report to find out more about what people are saying and feeling about these cars. We have selected the past 36 weeks and included only online publications (news, blogs and journals) in the English language. For Twitter we selected only the most recent days to get the feel of the moment. Using BuzzTalk as a discovery engine we quickly find relevant publications in various sources. We had the tagging engine categorize these publications so we can drill down by subtopic.

The pros: Why we need driverless cars

“Despite all the time humans spend in classrooms, and the small fortune we pay in college fees to learn how to think logically, we still make an awful lot of mistakes. To be precise about 5.1 million mistakes in the US alone. Unfortunately there are over 5.5 million car crashes in the US , with 93% of these crashes having humans error as the primary factor.” says Chuck Tesla on Tumotech.Self-driving cars eliminate driver-related errors and help people with disabilities live more independent lives. Or to quote the New Yorker on Google’s driverless car: “Every year we delay this, more people die”.
Other advantages we find are:

Increased mobility for seniors and people with disabilities.

You don’t need a driver’s license.

Opportunities for “parental controls” on the car.

Multi-tasking in the car is no longer necessary.

(In theory) it’s ok to drink and ‘drive’.

You can’t get lost.

Car sharing is enabled (a car just picks you up when you need one), so fewer cars are required which means less pollution.

This new technology raises questions, some hypothetical some hilarious. The New York Times hypothetically asks: “Suppose O.J. Simpson was heading down the freeway in a Google car? Could Google have stopped it?”.

The cons: Current objections to self-driving cars

In your mind you may already be imagining dozing off in your car to awake refreshed at your destination, or perhaps you’re thinking about finishing that book while your car is autonomously driving you to your next appointment. Being able to relax would be a great pro, but other people are worrying about giving up control and relying on technology.

The Google self-driving car should have an “I’m Feeling Lucky” button that drives you to a random location.

So when presented with the actual question if one would step into a driver-fee car a lot of people step back. The mind jumps in. Questions and objections arise. Hypothetical technology is fun, but real technology creeps us out. Concerns exist in the field of law and safety. It’s still software and software can have bugs, malfunction or simply crash. Even without human error, accidents will happen.Within BuzzTalk it’s easy to immediately jump to the draw backs. Publications that express criticism in the title are categorized in this specific BuzzEvent.By clicking on the event type ‘criticism’ we discover discussions on blogs and twitter about this one big question:
“When a driverless vehicle runs a red light or crashes, who’s to blame and receives a ticket?”
Other questions and worries:

Should the cars be required to have markings indicating their autonomous capabilities?

“Suppose Thelma and Louise were on the run in the Google car. Louise is not behind the wheel. There is no wheel. No Thunderbird. No top down. Imagine James Bond in a Google car. No, don’t imagine any of this, it’s too depressing.”

The overall sentiment surrounding autonomous cars

This technology will be introduced gradually, so we all have time to think this through. As Bret Kenwell says: “Fully autonomous vehicles – as in, a car that you hop in, plug in your destination, and read a book until you arrive – aren’t coming any time soon. But over the years, automakers and autonomous vehicle developers will continue to add more and more “subtle” solutions to our everyday driving challenges, (such as automatic braking, self-adjusting cruise control, and self-parking capabilities).”Overall we’re quite positive about these automobiles. The following graph depicts the positive sentiment for three new technologies. 3D printing is very promising as well, but the self-driving car tops this. The crypto currencies are promising as well but sentiment looks to have been (temporarily) damaged by Mt.Gox’s issues.

By monitoring what people are expressing online we can assess the sentiment, objections and overall readiness which are ingredients for further technology development, legal discussions and formulation of the value proposition. In whatever direction this is going, it’s certainly is going to be a quite ride!

]]>http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/driverless-cars-questions-concerns-and-sentiment-analysis/feed/0Create your own digital magazine via content curation; it’s easy! (2)http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/create-your-own-digital-magazine-via-content-curation-its-easy-2/
http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/blog/create-your-own-digital-magazine-via-content-curation-its-easy-2/#respondMon, 02 Jun 2014 12:17:00 +0000http://www.buzztalkmonitor.com/create-your-own-digital-magazine-via-content-curation-its-easy-2/Today you’ll learn that setting up and maintaining a digital magazine is so quick and easy; you can be up-to-date every day. Note: This is part two of an article written by Herman Vissia, phD., CEO of Byelex and developer of BuzzTalk. Click here if you missed part one. Setting up your digital magazine First […]

]]>Today you’ll learn that setting up and maintaining a digital magazine is so quick and easy; you can be up-to-date every day.Note: This is part two of an article written by Herman Vissia, phD., CEO of Byelex and developer of BuzzTalk. Click here if you missed part one.

Setting up your digital magazine

First you think of a theme or topic for your magazine. Choose a niche and make it specific. In the case of PetroPomp BV, the fictional company featured in this article series, the theme would of course be the petrochemical industry. Next think of a (descriptive) name for your magazine.

Creating content for your digital magazine

As PetroPomp BV exists for decades they have tons of content they can re-use, recycle and expand upon. When your company exists for some years this is likely to be the case for you too. Also your employees will have multiple stories to tell, customer experiences, case studies, visions and opinions about current trends in the industry etc. Often there is not enough time to write down these stories but you can hire a professional ghost writer that interviews you, your clients and your employees to create articles. As long as you’re not going to create a traditional paper magazine your costs will be limited as there are no printing or distribution costs involved.

Broaden the perspective of your digital magazine

A digital magazine makes daily updates possible, technically that is, but how will you create content on a daily basis? No worries; you don’t have to create everything yourself. In fact, a lot of the content you’ll be needing has already been created or soon will be. You’re not the only one in your industry with great content. News papers, colleagues and competitors will also publish online and may provide your readers with a different perspective on current trends. Of course you don’t republish their complete article as that would be plagiarism. Instead you summarize or quote and provide a link to the original; a practice called content curation.

Your magazine will be a win-win-win. You control the magazine and decide what’s begin published and when. Your readers will have a go-to resource for keeping up with all relevant industry news. The parties whose content is used get more views and traffic to their website. Everybody benefits!

How to find great relevant content to share

PetroPomp BV will be familiar with the top sites and blogs in their industry, but doesn’t everyone already? If you’re going to curate from the sources your readers are already reading they won’t find anything new. They will find it in one place, which is an advantage, but your magazine will be much more interesting if you can find articles that your audience won’t discover by monitoring their favorite websites or subscribing to free services such as Google Alerts.

On top of that you can add value by adding your own commentary to the stories as shown in the next picture. This is where your own point of view on the matter can be featured, but you can also use this space to provide a short summary explaining why the reader should click through to the full article.

You can increase the value of your magazine further by sharing content from websites that are outside the standard scope. Articles mentioning the petrochemical industry may appear on sources that you’re not monitoring since they are not focussing on this industry. And what about articles in different countries, in different languages. Wouldn’t it be great if you could comment on how your industry is doing in other regions? What challenges are faced? What new pumps are manufactured? Projects that are started or completed?

By finding and commenting on news from different perspectives and countries you will quickly become the go-to-resource and be valued as an expert on the subject. You name and bio will be featured in the magazine as shown in the picture below. Of course it’s also possible to have a branded magazine.

People who want to follow news and developments in the petrochemical industry will be very happy with this magazine. Not just your current customers, but everyone – including potential new customers – who is interested in this topic. They no longer have to search for on Google themselves, but get the best of the news delivered for free every day.

If your company wants to become (or remain) a thought leader, having a digital magazine is definitively a tactic to include in your plans. You can feature your own blog posts regularly in the magazine and even insert an offer every now and then.

How BuzzTalk helps

Other publishing tools exist, such as Flipboard, ScoopIt! or Summly, but BuzzTalk Reader is different as it’s powered by BuzzTalk. This means you’ll also have access to content discovery, media monitoring and analysis tools.

You get a list of relevant national and international publications, so you don’t have to search for content to share yourself which is a huge timesaver.

You regularly get suggestions from unexpected angles and unknown websites so that you can share surprising items.

You get tools to filter, so that you can sort in time, by region, by language, by person, by event and much more.

You can add your own comments, so that you can convey your views on the article, and add value to what you share.

You can insert your own articles between curated post articles so that you attract more visitors to your website.

You can choose whether to make the magazine public to reach a larger audience or whether you want only your own employees to access the magazine. A private magazine can then be used for internal communication.